N. Korea censures Japan's nuclear fuel purchase

North Korea denounced Wednesday Japan's recent purchase of nuclear fuel from France, saying it is motivated by the country's ambitions to produce nuclear bombs.

In April, Japan's state-run Kansai Electric Power Co. brought in a shipment of mixed oxide fuel (MOX) from France and said it will be used to run a nuclear reactor in Takahama, west of Tokyo. MOX is nuclear fuel, usually consisting of plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium or depleted uranium.

"Japan's steady purchase of a large amount of plutonium is intended for efforts to nuclearize itself," the Rodong Sinmun, published by the North's governing party, said in its Wednesday issue.

The North Korean newspaper added, "Japan's drive to purchase a large amount of nuclear fuel is not aiming at electric power production only."

Japan has already been equipped with skills to produce nuclear arms at any time, said the news outlet, adding, "The plutonium reserve currently owned by Japan is enough for making 5,000 units of the nuclear bomb, which (the U.S.) dropped on Nagasaki" during World War II.

The recent shipment of MOX marks Japan's first purchase of nuclear fuel since the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in March 2011.

Only two reactors, operated by Kansai Electric near Takahama, are still running after the country shut down the rest following the nuclear accident. Japan has said it will rethink its previous decision to abandon atomic power following the 2011 disaster.